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Knights bow to Patriots in finals

MPC softball

NEGAUNEE — For the first time, the Westwood Patriots captured the Mid-Peninsula Conference softball tournament championship Saturday afternoon, mercying Norway 15-0 in just four innings.

Westwood, which entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and earned the only first-round bye, defeated Ishpeming 8-3 in the semifinals. Earlier, Ishpeming defeated Iron Mountain 12-2 to earn the right to play the Patriots.

In other first-round games, Norway rallied past Gwinn 12-11 and Negaunee shut out Manistique 8-0. In the other semifinal, Norway downed Negaunee 8-5 to reach the championship.

Westwood head coach Heather Salmi said her team had the determination to earn the conference title early Saturday morning.

“It was really incredible,” Salmi said. “Our kids played absolutely great. We could tell with the looks on their faces against Ishpeming early on that our girls were ready to win it all and show that they deserved the conference this year, and they backed it up with their play in both games.”

Freshman Karlie Patron pitched a shutout in the championship win for Westwood, giving up just three hits in four innings while striking out six.

“She was hitting her spots and we had a hard time catching up to the high strike,” said Norway Coach Bob (Kuba) Bal.

Alli Sheski, one of three pitchers, took a line drive off the shin and left the game.

“We ran out of pitching,” Bal said.

Jordan Kraemer (double), Ada VanHolla and Karli Stanchina had Norway’s hits.

Norway trailed Gwinn 9-1 in the second inning before recovering. A six-run fourth closed the gap to 10-8. Freshman Cassidy Menard doubled in the Knights’ three-run seventh. A VanHolla single knocked in Sheski with the winning run.

Jada Lasater, who homered in the sixth, tallied three of Norway’s 12 hits. Sheski, VanHolla and Kayte Casanova also had three hits. Grayvold added two hits.

In the semifinal with Negaunee, Knights pitcher Mariah Gyselinck permitted six hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

Norway slugged four home runs including three-run and solo blasts from Sheski. Lasater and VanHolla also hit home runs. VanHolla doubled in a two-hit game and Grayvold also had two hits.

Norway held a 6-1 lead in the second inning. Negaunee came back with four runs in the fourth for a 7-5 difference.

Hematites pitcher Emma Bleau limited the Mountaineers to two hits — Ella Fortner and Mackenzie Swanson.

“We did not do well in our game,” said Mountaineers coach Dean Lefebvre. “We had a hard time hitting Emma Bleau.”

Iron Mountain hosts Kingsford today. Norway (23-12) completes a doubleheader Wednesday with Manistique and travels to Negaunee on Thursday for the final regular season games.

The Knights will clinch a share of the Mid-Peninsula Conference regular season title by beating Manistique.

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